I 'ver just seen the Yellowbrick advertisement in the latest FF, so I looked at their website. It seems to have come of age. No longer a Big Yellow Brick, but a small, rugged device with minimal power consumption, and a sensible purchase price, monthly fee and usage structure. It would give me what I 'm looking for - the ability to keep the folks back home aware of my position, and to send and receive SMS-style messages, when out of range of 3G.
I 'm tempted.
Is anyone using one?
David.

Yes I saw the advert and followed the link too. It looks good. I wonder if a discount could be negotiated for OCC members?

A friend of mine had to fit a Yellowbrick for the last AZAB. I was able to follow his progress on the tracker map, and update him on the positions of the boats around him. I could also see a GRIB style wind overlay, and could advise him of what weather was about to reach him. I wish someone could do that for me, sometimes - but not often enough to want to do all that 's necessary to download GRIBs myself in mid- ocean. I don 't need to talk to anyone from mid-ocean, either, so an Iridium phone is overkill, and not the right device for me.

Maybe that is something we could set up on the Forum for member 's on passage using Yellow Brick or similar? A land based buddy keeping an eye on progress and forwarding by text weather information. I suspect that that would be quite popular and I am sure that it would be easy enough to organise a rota of land based members to act as "buddies".

I looked at Yellowbrick, but came across something else which I now have.

Have a look at http://www.inreachdelorme.com

I 've had it a couple of weeks and it 's great. It pairs with my iPhone (or any phone) and I just send emails in the usual way up to max 150 characters. It also does tracking so people back home can watch your dot moving across a screen, and there 's an SOS button (but it 's no substitute for a proper EPRIB).

Sorry, reads like an advert. But I think in terms of convenience it 's a big step forward.

Does email with no problem but text messaging seems problematical at the moment, but I 'll sort it.

By the way, 'Wild Song ' is setting south towards Cape Horn in a few weeks and the blog will start to be updated soon (as below)
__________________
www.sailblogs.com/member/wildsong

The DeLorme device looked interesting - until I got down to the bottom of the page and found the problem:

NOTE: These plans are for individual consumers in the U.S. only. Canadian customers can find information at inreachcanada.com.

I 'm a UK citizen. I think the Yellowbrick will suit me better. At the moment, I 'm thinking of getting one sent down to Tahiti before I head north in October.

David,


I 'm a UK citizen too. No problem to open an account.

David,

I 'm a UK citizen too. No problem to open an account.

Thanks Paul it looks like there is lots of new kit becoming available that use the Iridium network. The Delorme certainly looks better value for money than Yellowbrick. I did a quick comparison just for my own interest but thought it worth sharing.

Delorme:
[ol]
[li]Uses Iridium[/li]
[li]Bluetoothe interface with iPhone or iPad[/li]
[li]AA batteries able to post position report every 10 minutes for 120 hours[/li]
[li]2 way messaging[/li]
[li]Sos button[/li]
[li]24/7 manned response to sos[/li]
[li]Compatible with Email, SMS, Facebook and Twitter[/li]
[li]$260 plus airtime plan[/li]
[/ol]


Yellowbrick:
[ol]
[li]Uses Iridium[/li]
[li]Bluetoothe interface with iPhone or iPad[/li]
[li]Rechargeable Ithium battery via USB position report every 15 minutes for 3 weeks or every day for a year[/li]
[li]2 way messaging[/li]
[li]Sos button[/li]
[li]No manned SOS call centre but the SMS could go to Falmouth ets[/li]
[li]Compatible with Email, SMS, Facebook and Twitter[/li]
[li]Around £400 (depending on functionality) plus airtime plan[/li]
[/ol]

Simon,

Good work! You might also have a look at SPOT who have brought out something similar, although the satellite system they use has limitations at high latitudes.

As you say, this is a developing area and we 'll see some interesting stuff over the next few years. Anything is better (and cheaper) than a satellite phone for text messaging - for some reason I find them to be very user-unfriendly.

Paul Heiney
Wild Song